The Cave Boy of the Age of Stone

by Margaret A. McIntyre

  When he came to the bees' nest, he threw his leg over a branch. Heswung the smoking stick back and forth. The bees flew off hummingangrily. Thorn quickly broke off the yellow honeycombs and put theminto his bag. Then down the tree he slid, followed by the angry bees.

  The bees flew off humming angrily]

  "Oh, oh, oh!" he cried, as he ran like a deer. When he went into thecave with the wild honey, the baby held out her little hands. He gaveher some and said, "You are sweet. You are honey."

  So the baby came to be called Honey.

  At sundown, the boys went out into the woods to set the traps. Abeautiful mother deer and her fawn were drinking at a brook. Cricketssang under old bark, and frogs on the edge of the pond. And birds weresinging their low sweet evening songs.

  The edge of the pond]

  The little hunters went straight on from trap to trap. But they foundno fox or wolf or wildcat in any of them. They were sorry. One trapwas sprung.

  "Something has been here, and the meat is gone," said Pineknot. "Wemust set the trap again."

  Thorn quickly bent down a little hickory, and tied a string to the top.Then he raised one end of a big rock and put a loop of the stringaround it.

  Pineknot was busy setting a trigger under the rock. All this time,Thorn stood by, playing with the string, pulling it and letting it go,pulling and letting go.

  "Listen," he said, "it sings like the wind." Pineknot had a stick inhis hand and, for fun, set it against the string. When Thorn let thestring go, the stick was shot out of Pineknot's hand, and against hisbare body. He yelled, and Thorn opened his eyes in wonder.

  And, for fun, set it against the string]

  Pineknot rubbed the place, but picked up the stick, stood aside, andset it as before. Then he said, "Do that again."

  Thorn did it again, and the stick flew among the trees. Over and overagain they tried it, and every time the flying string threw the stick.

  "Now," said Thorn, "I shall bend a little branch as that tree was bent,and I shall tie a string to the ends."

  He did so; and all the way home he kept shooting with his little bow,and wondering about it.

  Broken hunting club (2nd version)]

  CHAPTER III

  THE TAMING OF THE DOG

  Cattle horns]

  Early one morning Strongarm went out to hunt. Cattle with wild eyeswere eating grass on the edge of the wood. Strongarm dropped to hisknees and slowly, carefully, crawled through the bushes toward them.

  "Just a little nearer, and I will throw my spear!" he thought.

  A dry branch snapped beneath him! The wild cattle threw up theirheads, and with a hurry of feet were soon lost to sight.

  Frowning, the hunter got up from his knees and walked on. He saw aherd of mammoths, but he could not kill one of the big hairy elephantsalone, so he turned away. He hunted all day long. He saw plenty ofwild animals, but he could not get near enough to kill one. He sawwild ducks and grouse, but he had not brought his sling.

  "Must I go hungry to-day?" he growled, frowning.

  From far off came the yelping of dogs.

  "The pack is hunting!" he shouted, with a roaring laugh. "I willfollow the wild dogs and take some of the meat they leave!"

  Led by the sounds, he found the dogs running down a bison. Theyfollowed it until it was too tired to fight, and then pulled it downand killed it. They ate all the meat they wanted and went away. ThenStrongarm cut meat from the bison.

  On his way home he saw a nest of wild puppies in a hollow tree.

  "Um," he grunted, "the little wild goat that the children play with isquiet and tame. If a wild puppy grew up with them, would it be tame?Would it help me to hunt?"

  He picked up a puppy. When he got home, he dropped the little ball ofsoft black wool between the two boys lying on a bear skin.

  Then there were merry eyes, laughs, and soft calls:

  "Here little pet!" and "Oh, the little sharp teeth!"

  At last a tired little ball fell asleep in brown arms.

  The puppy grew fast and was full of play. He followed the boyseverywhere, and they called him "Wow wow."

  One day they were playing by the high rock, when the puppy sawsomething in the woods and ran after it.

  Pineknot called to him, "Come here, Wow wow!"

  And the call came back from the rock, "Wow wow!"

  "Oh, hear my talking shadow, brother," said Pineknot.

  "Yes," said Thorn, laughing, "let us talk a while with our talkingshadows."

  So they lay down on the ground and began to call.

  So they lay down on the ground and began to call.]

  "Ho, there!" called Thorn.

  "Ho, there!" came back from the rock.

  "Come here, talking shadow."

  "Shadow," was the answer.

  "We want to see you," called the boys.

  "See you," said the echo.

  "Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the boys.

  "Ho, ho!" laughed the talking shadow.

  That evening Pineknot came running to the cave, calling, "O Thorn, Iwas coming along on the high rock, and I heard little cries. I crawledthrough the bushes and looked over and saw a nest full of young eagles.They were skinny and had no feathers on their bodies. The nest wasmade of sticks; and oh, it was big, and there was a lot of feathers init!"

  A nest full of young eagles]

  Pineknot stopped for breath.

  "Go on, go on," said Thorn, "tell more."

  "As I looked, a shadow bird went over the rock," said Pineknot; "andthen down dropped the mother eagle with a snake in her claws."

  "Oh," cried Thorn, "I wish I had seen it."

  "The young eagles held their mouths open," Pineknot went on, "and theirmother fed them with the snake, a little bit at a time. When the snakewas all gone, the mother eagle waved her big wings and flew away. Thenthe young ones' heads fell down. They were asleep."

  A day or two after that, Thorn came into the cave with an eagle'sfeather in his hand. And there were long red cuts and scratches on hisbody.

  His father looked at him with a scowl.

  "Men bring meat from the hunt, not feathers," he said roughly.

  The boy looked pitiful; his mother felt sorry for him. She said toherself, "He has been to see the young eagles. The mother eagle sawhim. He fought her alone with his little stone ax. He will be a greathunter!"

  She looked at him proudly, and put cold water on the little torn body.

  "Gr-r-r," growled Strongarm, scowling. "Would you make a baby of theboy? A fight is good for him. He will learn to make his way."

  CHAPTER IV

  HOW STRONGARM HUNTED A BEAR AND A LION

  In those days Strongarm was busily digging a big hole away out in theforest. He cut the dirt up with his stone ax, and threw it out with aclam shell. He had worked now for days, and at last the hole was largeenough. He laid branches over it, and over the branches he hung theleg of a wild goat.

  That night the wild things of the woods came out to hunt for food. Acave bear came by and smelled the meat. He went to get it and fellthrough the branches into the hole beneath.

  The next day when Strongarm went to the hole, he found the great cavebear in it. He killed the bear and carried the meat home to eat, andthe skin to sleep on.

  Burr took the bear skin from him and laid it out on the ground. Shedrove sticks down through the edges, all the while pulling the skintight. Then with her stone scraper, she scraped off all the meat andfat. She left the skin stretched on the ground, and thought, "It willdry there, and another day I will scrape it again. Then it will begood and soft to sleep on."

  She scraped off all the meat and fat]

  She looked up as a man came running toward the cave.

  "Oho, Hickory!" called Strongarm, "what is it?"

  "A lion hunt!" shouted Hickory, and shook his spear.

  Strongarm's bold face lighted up.

  "Tell about it," he said.

 
; "A lion has come among the caves by the river. He kills the people andcarries off the children. The women dare not go to the river forwater. The men are afraid to go alone to hunt. So they want help tokill the lion. They want all the strong men and the good hunters.They have sent for you."

  Strongarm quickly took his club and spear and went off with oldHickory. The men went over two hills and across a stream, and came toHickory's cave. There other men joined them. All the men had clubsand spears and stone axes. They went together toward the river caves.They found the lion and killed it.

  Strongarm came home after some days, bringing lion's meat. Burr cookedit, and Strongarm said to the boys, "Eat, it will make you brave."

  After a while Strongarm sat down and made a hole in a lion's tooth.Then he took off his necklace. It was made of shells and bears' clawsand a tiger's tooth and a bit of amber. He put the lion's tooth on hisnecklace and held it up and looked at it and said, "Men will see thatand say, 'There is a brave man. There is a good hunter. He has helpedto kill a lion.'"

  Tiger's tooth and bear's claw]

  The boys stood by, watching. Thorn pointed to the tiger's tooth.

  "How long and sharp it is! I never saw a tiger."

  "You never want to see one unless you are where he cannot see you,"roared Strongarm.

  "Tell us about the lion hunt, father," begged Pineknot.

  Lion]

  "We watched the lion for days," said Strongarm. "We found that heslept nearly all day in the thick reeds by the river. At sundown hewent out to hunt. He hunted all night; we heard him roar at times. Inthe early light he went back to his bed of reeds by the river and wentto sleep. We rolled a big stone from a high rock and killed him whilehe slept. Then we went down to where he lay. We saw that he was anold lion; he could not hunt animals enough to eat, and that is why hehad begun to kill people."

  Lion's tooth]

  CHAPTER V

  THE OLD AX MAKER VISITS HIS DAUGHTER

  As they were talking, a long call came from far away. They listened.The call came again, and Strongarm put his hands to his mouth andanswered.

  "It is old Flint, the ax maker," he said to his wife.

  "Grandfather!" cried the boys, and they ran to meet him.

  Soon they came back with an old man. His hair was rough and gray, buthis eyes were bright under his bushy eyebrows. He wore an old brownbear skin.

  "Ho, man!" called Strongarm, "come on!"

  "Sit and rest, father," Burr said.

  The old man sat down on the root of a tree. Burr brought him bisonmeat and wild honey and a horn of water.

  "Eat, you are tired and hungry."

  The old man ate all he wanted. Then he began to talk. He told abouthis wife, and the work at the stone yard and the gravel bed, and of themen who had come from far away to buy his axes.

  The boys stood by and listened.

  After some time Burr looked at the bag on the old man's shoulder.

  "Have you a new ax in there for me?" she asked with a little laugh.

  Smiles came about the old man's mouth, and he slowly pulled fourbeautiful chipped axes from his bag. One ax was big and heavy. Thatwas for Strongarm. He handed it to him. Another ax was small andlight. That was Burr's. She put out her hand for it. There were twolittle axes. These the boys snatched with shouts of joy.

  The axes were wide at the sharp end and narrow at the head, and youcould see where every chip had come off.

  Strongarm turned his ax over and looked at it. He rubbed his fingersalong the rough sharp edge.

  Stone tools]

  "That is a good ax," he said, and he held it up and looked it all overagain.

  "Grandfather," said Thorn, pressing close to the old man's side, "whenI am a man, I shall be an ax maker like you."

  "Begin now," said his grandfather, with a gruff laugh. "It takes along time to learn to make a good ax."

  "Can anybody learn?" asked Pineknot.

  "No," said Flint. "Some men can chip stone, and others cannot. Thatis why some men make axes, and other men use them."

  "Well, I will try," said Thorn. "When you go back to the stone yard, Iwill go with you."

  Strongarm turned round where he sat and pulled up a little hickorytree. "We will put handles on these axes," he said.

  He hacked off a piece of the little tree and split it half way down,and hacked off one split piece. The other split piece he bent aroundhis ax. Then he took wet string made of skin. This he put around andaround the ax handle, and pulled it tight.

  Stone axe]

  The boys stood by watching. "The wet string will shrink and draw upshort," their father told them. "Then the ax will be very tight on thehandle."

  The boys now tied on their ax handles with their father's help. AndFlint tied on Burr's. Then all set to work with sandstone pebbles andrubbed them smooth. Strongarm's was soon done. He threw his old axaway, stuck his new one in the string around his waist, and went off tohunt.

  Burr took her digging stick from beside her door and hacked a point onit with her new ax. Then she burned the point in the fire until it washard. She took a basket in her hand, and her baby on her back, andwent out of the cave. Old Flint and the boys rolled a stone up to thedoor to keep out wolves and foxes. Then they all went into the woods,and Burr began looking for things to eat.

  She found a root and pushed it out of the ground with her digging stickand threw it into her basket. It was the root of a wild turnip. Shefound other roots. They were wild carrots and celery. In the openplaces, tall grasses grew. They were the wild grains. These she bentover and beat with a stick until the ripe seeds fell into her basket.Under the oak trees she gathered acorns.

  Woven basket]

  Little wild pigs were there eating the acorns, and the boys ran onedown and brought it, squealing, to their mother. Burr laughed andsaid, "You are little men. You will soon hunt for yourselves."

  It began to rain, and they all sat under a tree until the rain hadpassed.

  Little wild pigs were eating the acorns]

  CHAPTER VI

  THE COMING OF FIRE

  When Strongarm came back from the hunt, he found the cave cold and darkand wet. A stream of water was running down through the smoke-hole.It had put out the fire. The ashes, too, were wet; and there were nocoals from which to start the fire again.

  He looked at the black fire-place.

  "Now I must walk all the way to old Hickory's for fire," he grumbled;"and it is growing dark."

  Tired and hungry, he left the cave.

  He had not gone far when a dead branch fell across his path. He jumpedback.

  "The people who live in the trees did that--some of those shadowpeople," he said to himself. "They tried to kill me. The man wholives in the wind is angry, too. Hear him roar!

  "I do not like shadow people," he thought as he walked on. "They livein trees and wind and rivers and fire and stones and everything, butyou cannot see them. They will hurt you if you make them angry. I amafraid of them. I wish I had a torch to scare them off. All the othershadow people are afraid of the fire man."

  Then to keep up his heart he sang in a loud gruff voice:

  "O why did the water put out the fire? O why did the water put out the fire?"

  Strongarm gave a loud call as he came up to Hickory's cave. The oldman came to the door and asked what the trouble was.

  "Trouble enough," growled Strongarm. "My fire is out. I came forcoals."

  Old Hickory gave a great roaring laugh. His wife laughed, too, as shepushed the children aside and raked out coals. These she put into ahollow branch that Strongarm handed her.

  "They will keep alive in there," he said, "even if it rains."

  Then with a good pine torch and his branch full of coals, he hurriedhome.

  When Burr came back to the cave, she, too, found the fire out. Therewas a deer on the floor, so she knew that Strongarm had come from thehunt.

  "The ma
n has gone to old Hickory's for fire," she told her father.

  "Um," said Flint, "he might have rested his legs. I can get fire fromstones."

  "From stones!" cried Burr, her face white.

  The old man quietly pulled two stones from his bag. One was flint, theother was quartz. He took dry leaves from his bag and rubbed them veryfine between his hands and laid them on a rock. Over the leaves heheld the two stones and began to strike one with the other.

  Burr and the boys watched with scared faces.

  "The fire man--will he not be angry?" she asked.

  Flint said nothing. He was striking the stones together. A sparkcame! then another and another! He kept on striking very fast untilthe sparks came like a flame and caught the dry leaves. He put on moreleaves and little sticks, and soon there was a good fire blazing on thefloor.

  The sparks came like a flame and caught the dry leaves]

  "From stones!" Burr kept thinking, as she shook her head and watched itout of the corner of her eye.

  When Strongarm came with the coals, the cave was already warm and lightand full of the smell of good things cooking. He looked at the fireand wondered where it had come from, but said nothing.

  Near the fire his wife had a basket lined with clay. In it were theseeds of the wild grains and acorns, with hot coals. She shook thebasket around and around until the seeds were roasted. Then from theashes she pulled the roots she had put there to roast.